The present invention relates to the handling of plastic cards, such as credit cards, identification cards and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for feeding plastic cards into a printer.
Plastic cards are widely used to form credit cards, identification cards and the like. The plastic cards are produced having a large variety of designs, logos and colors unique to the particular issuer of the card. For instance a bank that issues credit cards will often times have its logo printed on the cards, as well as issuing different types of cards such as gold credit cards, platinum credit cards, etc. The cards are generally run through a printer which prints and/or embosses customer specific information, such as names, addresses, identification numbers and the like, on the cards.
It is expected that self-service, automated card issuance kiosks or stations will come into widespread use. The card issuance kiosks, which are similar to automated teller machines (ATM""s), will allow a customer to chose a particular type of card from a variety of available cards, and then issue the selected card with the card personalized for the particular customer. The kiosks must be able to hold a variety of different cards to allow a wide selection for the customer, as well as being able to take the selected card and feed it to a printer for printing and/or embossing of the customer specific information thereon. However, since the kiosks are self-service and unattended, the reliability and security of card issuance kiosks is a concern.
The present invention provides an improved card feeding apparatus, and a method for feeding plastic cards to a printer, that can be used in any system where plastic cards are fed into a printer, but has particular use in a card issuance kiosk system. The card feeding apparatus and method of the present invention is designed to simplify the feeding of the card to the printer, as well as to increase the reliability of the card feed operation, while providing increased security.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a multihopper card feeder is provided including a support structure, and a card cassette mounted on the support structure for holding a plurality of cards. The card cassette is moveable relative to the support structure, and the card cassette defines a discrete position for each card of the plurality of cards. A card picker is mounted on the support structure, with the card picker being capable of picking any one of the plurality of cards from the card cassette. Thus, since each card has a discrete position within the card cassette, the card cassette can be moved past the card picker and any one of the cards within the card cassette can be picked by the card picker, and subsequently fed to a printer to personalize the card.
In another embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for holding a plurality of cards and feeding the cards to a printer is provided. The apparatus includes a support structure connected to the printer, and a card cassette mounted on the support structure. The card cassette is moveable relative to the support structure, and the card cassette defines a discrete position for each card of the plurality of cards. A card picker is mounted on the support structure for picking any one of the plurality of cards from the card cassette. Feed rollers engage each card picked by the card picker for feeding each picked card to the printer.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a card cassette for holding a plurality of cards in a card feeder is provided, including first and second spaced apart plates, with each plate including a plurality of spaced grooves defined therein. The grooves in the first plate face the grooves in the second plate, and the grooves in the first and second plates are aligned with each other whereby a plurality of discrete card positions are defined by the aligned grooves. Thus, by utilizing spaced grooves in the plates, the cards within the card cassette are not only held at discrete positions, but the cards are also spaced apart from each other to facilitate picking of the desired card.
A process for feeding cards into a printer is also provided. The process includes loading a plurality of the cards into a cassette, with each card having a discrete position. The cassette is then loaded into the printer, and the position of each card in the cassette is mapped out thereby creating an inventory map. Thereafter, a selected one of the plurality of cards is picked from the cassette, and the picked card is then fed to the printer. By creating an inventory map of the cards within the cassette, the location of the cards, as well as the number of cards in the cassette, can be determined and a record thereof stored, to facilitate card picking and increase security.
These and various other advantages and features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, its advantages and objects attained by its use, reference should be made to the drawings which form a further part hereof, and to the accompanying description, in which there is described a preferred embodiment of the invention.